Fourth grade: What your child should know

No two kids are alike, especially when it comes to hitting developmental benchmarks. But it helps to have a rough idea of which academic and social skills your child should acquire at his or her grade level. Learn more about the fourth-grade classroom in these subject areas: reading, writing, math, science, technology, social studies, the arts, and physical education and health. Or check your state’s academic standards to find out what students are required to learn.

By the end of the year, you can expect your child to:

Begin to make more decisions and engage in group decision-making

Want to be part of a group

Think independently and critically

Have empathy

Show a strong sense of responsibility

Have a greater awareness of fairness

Be able to memorize and recite facts, although he may not have a deep understanding of them

Increase the amount of detail in drawings

Work on research projects

Write a structured paragraph with an introductory topic sentence, three supporting details, and a closing sentence that wraps up the main idea of the paragraph

Use quotations effectively in writing

Use a range of strategies when drawing meaning from text, such as prediction, connections, and inference